Hands-on with Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite’s Spider-Man, Frank West

Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite’s release is quickly approaching. And while we saw a large portion of the cast during its reveal around E3, many pointed out some key characters missing. Capcom decided to announce a new group of characters to join the roster at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The four characters are all veterans returning from previous Marvel vs Capcom games. And the newest additions are Spider-Man, Frank West, Nemesis, and Haggar. These new characters were all playable on the showroom floor and I gave a few of them a try.

My demo time with Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite was limited. However, during my time I managed to get in a few matches and give some of the new contestants a chance. For the most part, combat has remained virtually the same as previous games in the franchise, minus the smaller 2-man teams and addition of the Infinity Stones mechanic. Controls are set up like other Marvel vs Capcom games using 2 punches and 2 kicks. Pressing one of each will activate simple special attacks that drain your special gauge for devastating attacks.

I decided to give Gamora and Nemesis a test run since I skipped them at E3. And I have to say that both are welcome additions. Nemesis is a returning member and feels similar to his UMVC3 days. Although many of his moves have been altered, I still enjoyed using him as my slower but harder hitting character. Gamora is fast and powerful, excelling in close to mid range with a very enjoyable hyper combo. (It’s reminiscent of Zero from the Mega Man franchise.)

Sadly I was not as adept with Gamora as I had hoped and my opponent made short work of her. Fortunately, I had Nemesis left over and tons of hyper combo gauge. Things were looking bleak for my battered Nemesis vs my opponent’s 3/4 health Dante. This is when I activated my full gauge Infinity Stone. The stones each have their own effect such as filling the gauge, stunning your opponent, or in my case, imprisoning them in an unbreakable cage. I forced Dante into a corner, activated my stone and locked him in a transparent blue box, which prevented him from dodging my attacks. While trapped you can still guard or attack, but the movement is locked. So I approached with a mix-up to find an opening and then unleashed a barrage of hyper combo attacks until victory was mine.

Overall Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite carefully walks the line of balancing familiarity with ingenuity. The change from a 3-member team to 2 is a surprisingly welcome change. Cross characters combos feel a little more deliberate and each character is worth that much more. This raises the stakes so that each action becomes more valuable.

The Infinity Stones, if utilized properly, will play a key role in each match and are a great new tool added to the Marvel vs Capcom franchise. The new additions bring the roster up to 26 characters in total so far. However, they are missing some popular fan favorites that we have seen like Deadpool, Dr. Doom, and Magneto. (*cough*Fox*cough*) There is still some time left until the game releases in September, so there is still hope. But with an already announced season pass for 6 characters, fans may have to wait.